Dauntless delver
by Nohiki
Summary: Follow a rookie knight on her path through the clockworks
1. Chapter 1

"Aaaah!" she yelped as the hulking monster's attack bashed her over the edge. Her eyes never saw anything like it. It looked like a bunch of wood and clockwork holding together by sheer will, slowly shuffling around the place. She underestimated it. The speed with which it swung its wooden mace at her was far greater. The impact sent her stumbling backwards. Unable to stop, she fell over the guard rail and for a moment saw the terrible fall that awaited her. With all of her will, she reached out in time and grabbed the rail, dangling on nothing but two of her fingers that were tiring rapidly. Hearing the ringing sound her dropped sword made as it hit a piece of the clockworks somewhere below and seeing the shadow of the approaching lumber, Lantea knew her days were numbered.

Looking up to the eyes of her executioner, she awaited death as the lumber charged to strike the final blow. Then she heard a loud clang followed by a blinding flash of light. Next thing she knew the lumber was falling down to the death that should have been hers. Feeling her fingers slipping from the rail, Lantea looked up with a last spark of hope. "Grab!" she heard from above, and a giant sword came to her view. The cracks on the weapon glowed with sheer power. Her eyes lost in the beauty of it, she almost fell down, grabbing the hammerhead shaped thing in the nick of time. Feeling a tug, she was swung up, on her way catching a glimpse of the knight that pulled her out of the jam. The ridiculous jelly helmet with a moustache and smoking a pipe would be forever carved in her memory. Hitting the ground after falling from a rather wide arc, her battered body gave out and Lantea sunk into darkness.

When she woke up, something was off. No part of the clockworks smelled like this - or rather didn't smell at all. No smoke, no ozone, no toxic waste, no flowers. Just clean air. She was also lying on something soft. Carefully dragging her hand along the surface below her, she realized it was cloth. She was definitely moved. Why was she out anyway? Her mind struggled to remember, still jumbled from - oh that's right. A living mass of wood hit her pretty hard, and then she nearly fell, and then she was saved by impostoclaus... wait what?

Her eyes snapped open only to narrow into two slits again as the light hurt them. The ceiling above her confirmed she was no longer in the clockworks. But then... where? "Yay, you're awake!" something overly enthusiastic next to her shouted, making her cringe. "That... That hurt my ears." Lantea groaned. she heard a snap and looked in the direction, finding a pink haired knight with her hands slapped over her mouth and sorry look in her eyes. "Somhmh!" came a muffled 'sorry'. Lantea found the strength to roll her eyes. Looking around, she was in some kind of a bunk room, the other person sitting on the bed next to her. "What's this place?" the blue haired knight asked, looking around as her eyes slowly coped with the light.

"You're in our guild hall. Oh you were such a mess when Zen brought you in. That deep in the clockworks with only that gear, it's no wonder though. What were you thinking?" Cheery rambled, only stopping when she noticed Lantea's face. "Oh, right. Too loud. Sorry. Feel better now?" Lantea tried moving for a bit, and eventually managed to sit in the bed. "Yes, as fine as one can be after... that. I should really be worse. Thank you, ...?" Lantea looked at Cheery with questioning expression. "Iiiiiiii'mmmm Misty!" the other knight said, imitating cheerleader moves. "'N you?" Blinking a few times trying to comprehend the person in front of her, Lantea managed to stammer out her name. "Pleased to meet you!" Misty said, grabbing and shaking both of her hands. "OUR hall?" She managed to ask, still not quite getting her bearings. but Misty was all too happy to answer: "Why the Tectonic guild of course! Our Guild Master found you in the clockworks grasping straws, quite literally. Your lights were out so he got you the heck outta there. You weren't in a good shape let me tell you that. It took some effort to revive you." Misty said, her voice becoming more tranquil and her happy expression changing to a concerned one. "I'm fine, really. Thanks. I suppose I should thank the guy." Lantea said, taking a breath to say something else, but Cheery interrupted her: "Sure! I'll call him! Wait here!" She shouted and vanished in a blaze of speed. resigning, Lantea's head hit the pillow as she lied down and waited.

It didn't take long and the familiar knight entered the room, only to find Lantea checking out the gear on display, bored out of her bed. "Nice to see you up and about." He said. Lantea slowly turned around and gave the knight a bit of a stare. She couldn't tell what, but something in that voice sounded a bit off. Deciding to shed it, she walked over. "Thank you for getting me out of there. I'd have been a stain on the ground somewhere deep if you weren't around. Sorry to spoil your mission" the blue knight said with a grateful bow. The other knight waved a hand over it. "It's not a big deal. It was just training. I have served my missions." he said, tapping the crest on his armor. Lantea looked and understood: A vanguard. "Oh! Sorry, sir!" she corrected herself, gathering her composure. Smiling, the other knight shook his head: "At ease, noobie. The name is Zenihdrol. I'm the current, although not founding, master of the Tectonic guild." he introduced herself. Lantea's stance relaxed a little. "I've done some digging. You aren't registered with any guild. How would you like to join us?" Taken aback, Lantea shook her head: "Me? But.. I'm but a Knight." With the tiniest of shrugs, Zen answered: "Doesn't matter. We'll help you get further up!" thinking only for a second, Lantea nodded.

"Great! I assume you already mer Misty?" Snickering, Lantea nodded: "I did allright. Where did you find her?" "Dunno. She was here before I was. She's the guild's unending source of optimism, as you noticed no doubt. And above all else, my second in command." Zen explained, making Lantea choke on her own breath. That earned a laugh from the other knight. "Yeah, everyone reacts always the same to that. I'll have her show you around." With that, her new Guild master left. A minute later, Misty bounced back into the room: "I knew it! I so called it!" she almost sung, glomping ger new guildie. Failing at resisting her, she let her go on: "I told 'em you'd join! I knew you would! You had to! We're awesome! Come I'll show you around!" the ever cheerful knight said, grabbing Lantea's shoulders and promptly leading her out of the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Days went by and Lantea recovered from the accident and returned to her duties. This time watching the depth she was heading into, her pocket slowly filled with some cash, which didn't escape the keen eyes of a certain metro friend. As Lantea walked down the guild hall, a pink flash appeared in front of her and stopped her: "Helllooooo. How are we?" Misty said, turning to walk along. "Oh, mighty fine. Getting rich... er." Lantea shrugged, but Misty stopped in her tracks. "Rich? How rich?" Lantea shrugged and gave her the number. "And you are still using that crap cobalt set?" the pink haired woman said with a quizzical expression on her face. "It's crap?" Lantea said, so far being happy about her choice. Misty gave her a long look: "_Kozma_ gives it for _free_."

The gears started spinning in Lantea's head. She and Misty started a hate board in the control room as a stress relief measure, and complaints about the ridiculously overpriced items from the quartermaster took up majority of the list. "Oh my god you're right - Ow, OW!" she managed to say before Misty grabbed her by the collar and started dragging her away: "That's it, you're going shopping!" "But I hate shop-hmhfhm!" Lantea was cut short as Misty stuffed a rather large jelly candy in her mouth: "I am the commander here and I said you're getting yourself better gear. That's an ooooordeeeeer!" the overly cheery knight sung. With a humph, Lantea shuffled along, realizing this was a fight she couldn't win.

"The hall of Heroes." Lantea read the sign as the duo made its way to their destination, "Is this where vanguards go to inflate their egos?" she joked, earning a punch on the shoulder: "In. Now." was all Misty said. A painful hour later, they emerged from the hall. "I look ridiculous!" Lantea complained as she went by a large window and saw her reflection. "A poncho and a hat?! I look like some bloody cowboy born in a saddle!" she continued her rant, only to be asked to draw her gun. She did so in half the time she could in the metal armor. "Oh..." she said as the light bulb finally lit in her head. "Say, want to go test this out?" Misty gave her a furious nod and they headed to the armory to fetch the weapons and shields.

A minute later, they were standing in the arcade picking the gate. "This one!" Misty called and jumped on the elevator. "This is going to be something, I've never seen you fight." Lantea said, always searching for new tricks to learn. "Who said anything about fighting? You want to test new gear. I want to get a tan. We're going to some garden level, and while you busy yourself with the wolvers, I'll be lying down in the sun and stuffing my face." the pinkish knight said, poking her companion. Lantea was about to start swearing, but she stopped just in time before she fed Misty's troll. She walked over and hit the button, the elevator plunging into the depths.

When the ride stopped, they walked to the arsenal station to get some ammo. But something wasn't right. "Ooooow, where's my Sun?" Misty whined, her eyes scanning the sky. That was it. It was supposed to be a day, but this part of the clockworks was pitch black. "You want that ammo now?" Lantea said and Misty took it with a growl. "When I find the one who stole my afternoon, I'm going to murder..." "Daaaw, you're so cute when you're angry!" Lantea sung and slipped through the force field, leaving Misty with a hanging jaw. She crept through the bushes, hiding both from Misty and the monsters, waiting for her chance to pounce on some unsuspecting prey, be it a wolver or a certain pink knight. Unknown to her, several eyes were watching her.

Misty walked down the path, a blitz needle in one hand and a pack of sweets in the other, when suddenly a loud, disgusted whine cut through the air and she hastened to the source. When she arrived, she saw Lantea on a clearing, standing in... The woods surrounding the level were disturbed by the outburst of laughter. "You... You stepped... Into dog dung!" She gasped between laughs, further increased when she saw the look on Lantea's face. "Mommy I don't wanna be on Cradle anymore!" The blue knight winced as she pulled her foot out of the disgusting pile and tried in vain to clean her shoe by wiping it on the grass.

When Misty recovered from the spasms and caught her breath, Lantea wanted to head back to haven and change her boots. But Misty shook her head: "This is extraordinary." she said, pointing to the source of her amusement. Lantea's expression turned into one of disbelief: "It's _dogturd_, nothing extraordinary on that." Misty shook her head again: "It's the size of a boulder. No way an ordinary wolver left that here." The two knights looked at each other and their eyes perked up. "Imagine if we could mount its head on the wall!" Lantea dreamed. "Imagine the coat I could make from the fur!" Misty chipped in. "Do you ever think of anything but clothes?" "I'm hungry." Misty replied, earning a resigned sigh from Lantea as they headed deeper to find the beast.

So far they didn't have much luck. All they found were cubs and young wolvers with an occasional alpha. And they were getting bored. But as they neared the elevator, they came face to faces with a giant flash of blue with six glowing red eyes. both of them instantly drawn their guns, but the beast burrowed before they could hit it. "What on Cradle was that?" Lantea asked, never encountering anything like it before. "My new coat, and it'S getting away, hurry!" Said Misty, already stepping on the elevator. Shaking off the surprise, Lantea followed.

When they reached the next level, the blue knight wasn't impressed. They could see the exit elevator from the one they used to get in. They proceeded into the only room. There wasn't much on the level, except a few thorny vines and... "What's that?" Lantea asked, pointing to something in the middle. "That's a bell, genius." Misty replied. "I can see that what's that for?!" Lantea barked back, slightly annoyed. But their theatrics were cut short as something roared behind them. When they turned, they only saw spikes coming out of the ground and heading towards them. Each of them jumped to another side of the room. Then, the Snarbolax popped out of the ground right in front of Lantea. "Nice doggy, nice doggy!" she babbled in panic, but one of the strong paws sent her flying. Then she heard a bang, saw stars, and then nothing.

A while later, Lantea came to her senses again only to see the Snarbolax's face staring her into the eyes. With a scared shriek she rolled away, only to see it was Misty holding a dead husk to her face and grinning madly. "Wha... What?" Lantea asked. Misty smiled: "It sent you head first straight to the bell. And while it knocked you out, the sound also stunned the beast. It was easy picking, really." the pink knight smiled, dragging her new would be coat to the elevator. "No fair. the one chance I get to see you in action, I get knocked out." Lantea sulked and followed.


End file.
